Council Tax Liability
Liability
Council Tax is made up of a 50/50 combination of two elements
Property element
Personal element
The 50% personal element assumes that there are at least two adults over the age of 18 resident in the property.
Your liability for Council Tax is determined by
a) residence and
b) your legal status within the property.
The liable people in each property will normally be adults (i.e. over the age of 18) whose main home is in the dwelling and whose legal status in relation to the dwelling, is nearest to the top of the ladder set out below:-
- Resident Freehold Owner
- Resident Leasehold Owner
- Resident Tenant (ie: Rent Payer)
- Resident Licensee
- Resident
- Non-Resident Owner
Put simply, the liable person(s) in each dwelling will be the resident(s) who either owns or rents the property.
The non-resident owner will be liable for the Council Tax if the property is no-one's main home.
Owner Liability
The owner rather than the resident is always liable for the following classes of occupied property-
- Residential care homes and nursing homes
- Houses in multiple occupation
- Dwellings occupied by a religious community
- Dwellings inhabited by live-in staff employed in domestic services
- Residences of Ministers of religion
Joint and Several Liability
Where adult members of the same household (ie: freeholders, leaseholders, tenants etc.) have an equal interest in the property, they can be held jointly or severally (ie: individually) liable to pay the whole Council Tax bill.
Husband and wife, or couples living as such, can each be held jointly and severally liable for the whole Council Tax bill.
In all circumstances where there are two or more people liable for the same Council Tax bill, it is in the interests of all the residents to come to an amicable agreement about how to pay.
